Books – Page 22 – Keith Robertson

Week in Review – October 14, 2018

After seeing a new movie covered on morning TV on Monday, I decided to use my retirement day to catch an early showing. “Free Solo” is about Alex Honnold completing the first solo climb of El Capitan in Yosemite, with no ropes or assistance of any kind. He completed the 3000 foot climb in under 4 hours – a feat that takes most climbers several days, with assistance. The movie is from National Geographic and the cinematography is outstanding. There were several very tense points as Honnold hung from his finger tips in the middle of some highly complex manoeuvres. This movie gets two thumbs up for folks that aren’t too nervous about heights.

After the movie, I drove down to Interabang Books to choose some reading material for my trip to New Orleans. Anybody know what an Interabang is? I didn’t either. It’s this: “?!” (an emphatic question I suppose).

Monday night football provided a big stage for the New Orleans Saints quarterback, Drew Brees, to set the all time passing record for the National Football League. Denny and Greg were at the game and featured in the newspaper when the receiver who caught the record setting catch jumped up into the stands with them. The whole thing was a very big deal in New Orleans.

I arrived in New Orleans on Tuesday evening. Denny picked me up at the airport and we met Anne for some excellent Vietnamese food at a place close to the soccer practice location by City Park.

Wednesday began with lunch at Manolito in the French Quarter. This is a small Cuban restaurant with great food and daiquiris. I love croquettes and they had the best that I’ve tasted. That was followed with an excellent Cuban sandwich.

A ramble through the Quarter ensued with stops to shop for a birthday gift for Will (shh!) and to sample the champagne cocktails at the newly remodeled Brennan’s bar. Diana was missed very much at this stop.

After a quick regroup back at Webster St, we caught a show by the Iguanas at the Circle Bar. The Iguanas is a New Orleans based, roots rock band, formed in 1989. Their sound has been described as “combining Chicano rock, R&B, Conjunto and various Latin styles into a deep groove”.

The Circle Bar is a tiny venue, where you feel as if you are experiencing a show in a small living room. I enjoyed the show very much and particularly Papi Mali as guest guitar player. Here’s a link to one of their more popular songs.

And here’s my favorite:

A quick Uber ride over to the Chickie Wah Wah music club and we were at our second excellent show of the evening. John Fohl and Johnny Sansone performed a singer/songwriter show that was beautifully nuanced and varied. I remember a John Fohl show that Diana and I saw with Denny at Dos Jefes a few years ago very fondly. Both artists have impressive pedigrees with Fohl playing in the Dr. John band for years and Sansone in Blood, Sweat and Tears. Here are my two top picks from an excellent show:

A late night pizza on Freret Street and a typically outstanding New Orleans day wound to a close.

Awakening on Wednesday morning, I was very impressed to find Denny returning from an early morning tennis match. We met their tennis opponents, Fred and Kelly, at Saba for lunch. This is the new restaurant from the James Beard award winning chef behind Shaya, and is located in the corner spot previously occupied by Kenton’s. Lunch was very good but just not quite up to the level of ambience, service, or quality of Shaya.

Later in the afternoon, we enjoyed this panoramic view of New Orleans from the “Hot Tin Roof” bar atop the Ponchatrain hotel. This is a recently restored hotel and apparently is where Tennessee Williams wrote “A Streetcar named Desire”. The music oscillated between very enjoyable brass band songs and horrible hip hop nonsense. We joked that the rap music was inserted to stop slow drinking old folks from staying too long.

Anne left to go and take care of the boys, and Denny started taking me to all of my favourite places one after another. We enjoyed the patio at Bacchanal, an excellent dinner at the Bywater American Bistro that included country pate, an excellent middle eastern style curry, and bottled Negroni (that sadly is only available at the restaurant).

This was followed by a quick stop at Molly’s before crossing town to the Maple Leaf to see a piano show by CR Gruver in the back bar.

Here’s a short video of Gruver (it was dark again):

The late night music was at the Bon Temps bar with the Thursday night standard Soul Rebels Brass Band. The back room was the most packed I’ve seen it and included a lot of Georgia fans in for the LSU game on Saturday and avoiding the hurricane.

Friday was another beautiful day in New Orleans with very low humidity. I enjoyed some yummy breakfast tacos a la Denny and then made my way to the airport. What a lovely couple of days!

I made it back to Dallas in time for dinner with Patty (on her second to last visit to Dallas – the next one will be to move) and Brent at Mesero in the Legacy West area. The front room was very loud and so it was difficult to carry on a conversation. I downloaded a decibel meter and clocked the din at 95 decibels.

On Saturday we attempted to fly to Boston in the morning – Diana has a work meeting on Tuesday and we planned to spend the weekend exploring the city. After too many hours on a plane that didn’t take off due to a thunder storm and then pilots with too many hours, we gave up and headed home. The flight was ultimately canceled in the evening – poor people that hung around all day to go nowhere.

Sunday was back to normal routine – reading in bed, workout, coffee and crossword, facetime with my Mum and Dad (who were visiting Elspeth and family in their new palace outside of Aberdeen), and watching the Cowboys game. The Cowboys are currently in the lead with a long way to go in the game. They really need to win this one to keep a decent season alive.

My book this week was “Cathedral Stories” by Raymond Carver. This has received rave reviews for years as an exemplary short story collection. The first few stories didn’t impress me, but then things really picked up with a few excellent short story examples. “The Compartment” was my favourite.

I’ll finish this week with a song by the one of a kind James Booker who was honored with the back bar Maple Leaf piano shows.

Week in Review – October 7, 2018

Monday was my last day of work for AIG after 6.98 years (graciously rounded up to 7 for benefits purposes) and I’m enjoying a few weeks off before starting my next work adventure. More about that in a few weeks. McD, on the other hand, worked hard all week long, spending most of her time in downtown Dallas by the Trinity river.

Brent and I celebrated National Taco Day on Thursday in style at the Velvet Taco in Dallas. The shrimp and grits taco and the margarita were both excellent. After lunch, I took Brent across the street to Audio Concepts, where Diana purchased the Linn turntable that became the heart of my office sound system that I enjoy every day. We spent a very pleasant couple of hours auditioning speakers for Brent’s new office in Corning. The slight challenge is that Patty is requesting bookshelf speakers for flexibility of placement in a future retirement home. Landon did a great job of demonstrating various digital streaming player and speaker combinations for us and we’ll see what Brent decides. “Private Investigations” by Dire Straits was the track used most to compare and what a great piece of music that is. I remember being amazed by the quality of the recording when first hearing it back in my University days.

On Friday afternoon we flew to San Francisco for the much anticipated Good Shepherd 8th grade 40th anniversary reunion event on Saturday evening. We decided to take Clorinda (Diana’s Mom) for dinner at the local Peruvian restaurant, Puerto 27, but changed our minds when greeted by extremely heavy traffic on Highway 1 South. Clorinda suggested we make a quick adjustment and try dinner at the local golf club – “Kevin’s a good cook”. Turns out Kevin is a really good cook – my Dover sole, Diana’s beef medallions, and Clorinda’s lamb shank were all delicious. Left overs were used in several breakfast omelets over the remainder of the weekend. Here’s a write up on Sharp Park gold course which was designed by a very famous Scottish architect and a video that adds some more details.

Of all the public golf courses in San Francisco, Sharp Park, which opened for play in April, 1932, arguably has the most distinguished pedigree and the deepest historical roots. Located 10 miles south of San Francisco alongside Salada Beach in Pacifica (San Mateo County), the course was designed by Dr. Alister Mackenzie, the Golf Hall of Fame architect who also designed Augusta National (home of the Masters Championship), Cypress Point (often ranked as the finest course in the world), as well as scores of other famed courses around the globe.

But even among that famous company, Sharp Park is utterly unique. It is the only MacKenize course that is both public and by the sea. The layout is spectacular, featuring stunning mountain and headlands views and a host of MacKenizie’s signature design features: the use of camouflage; cloud-shaped bunkers; sprawling greens; double fairways, and shotmaking options that require careful strategic thinking by the golfer. U.S. Open Champion Ken Venturi, who grew up on San Francisco’s public courses, called Sharp Park “Dr. MacKenzie’s great gift to the American public course golfer.”

In a sense, MacKenzie transplanted a bit of Scotland and placed it on the California Coast. Sharp Parkrepresents a true public links venue, reminiscent of classics such as North Berwick and St. Andrews itself. The old-time Scottish flavor of the place is accentuated by the 1932 Spanish Revival-style clubhouse, designed by the Willis Polk office, which today houses a lively neighborhood pub.

Saturday began as a classic foggy Pacifica day. We spent the morning visiting the nephews and Amy while Adamo was lobster diving off Southern California. Those kids have way too much energy for us old folks.

I got a lot of enjoyment from watching Massimo trying to put on his socks so that he could go and play outside.

Clorinda put together what I call the “Progression of D” ahead of the reunion and I enjoyed reviewing her school photos.

We also reviewed the year book pictures to see who Diana might remember from 40 years earlier.

Diana drove her Mum to church on Saturday evening just ahead of the reunion. When she asked who was giving a ride back home, the answer was: “I’m not going home – I’m joining you at the party!” She did indeed join the party and was mentioned as a “highlight” in an email today from one of the organizers.

It was great seeing everyone getting reacquainted and enjoying old stories. I particularly enjoyed a video of a band that three of the classmates had played in back in the day.

Sunday was a nice sunny day – always seems that the fog leaves right as we depart Pacifica. Our flight was delayed a few hours for unknown reason, and so we were able to enjoy some of the lobster that Adamo had just caught before leaving.

There was plenty of time for reading this week and I finished a couple of books with some similarities. The first, “Little Fires Everywhere”, by Celeste Ng takes place in the suburban town of Shaker Heights, Ohio, where she grew up. The lives of several families become intertwined through their children and Ng’s tale of what happens behind perfectly manicured suburban lawns takes off. The characters and the story telling are excellent with just enough believable twists to keep me hooked. While reading, I wondered if a movie version was planned as the story and characters seem ideal. I just read that Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington are planning a TV series.

The second book, “Ordinary Grace” by William Kent Krueger, is based in New Bremen, Minnesota in 1961 and is narrated by Frank Drum. He recounts the story of his teenage years from the perspective of a 40 year older version of himself. 40th anniversaries are a theme this week!

“That was it. That was all of it. A grace so ordinary there was no reason at all to remember it. Yet I have never across the forty years since it was spoken forgotten a single word.”

I didn’t enjoy this quite as much as Little Fires, but it still kept my interest well and was a quick read.

I was introduced to Radio Paradise by the guys at Audio Concepts and have been enjoying the varied mix of music all week. You can choose a high fidelity FLAC stream which sounds great. Here are a couple of the songs I enjoyed.

Week in Review – September 30, 2018

Lots of work activity this week and so the weekend was more precious than normal. Our main activity was the much anticipated, at least by me, Nick Lowe concert at the Kessler.

Dinner before the concert was at Nova, the excellent restaurant that Brent found, and a short walk from the theater. We both commented on the different feel we experience in restaurants like this than our local places – so much more friendly and relaxed.

Have you heard of Nick Lowe? Do you know the songs “Cruel to be Kind”, “What’s so Funny About Peace Love and Understanding”, “Allison” or “I Knew the Bride When She Used to Rock N’ Roll”? You may not have heard of Mr. Lowe, but I bet you’ve heard at least two of his songs and know them well. Here’s a video of “Cruel to be Kind” to get you started:

In addition to his songwriting, Lowe produced the best known Elvis Costello albums from 1975 through 1981, Graham Parker, and the Pretenders, among many others.

We both loved this concert and rate it as one of the most exceptional concerts that we’ve seen at the Kessler – right up there with the Marc Cohn show that led us to pick “True Companion” as our wedding song. Here’s “Peace Love and Understanding”:

The backup band was “Los Straightjackets’, a surf rock band who wear crazy Luche Libre wrestling masks while performing. They played a few or their songs in the middle of the set, including this version of “Batman” complete with Gogo dancers recruited from the audience:

Here’s one last song from the show, “Allison”, the final encore to an amazing show:

Please go and see the 69 year old Lowe if you ever get the chance – a great gentleman, songwriter and performer.

We spent the night downtown at the classic art deco hotel, the Belmont, and talked about how concerned we are that this classic destination is going to be caught up in the gentrification of the neighborhood and ruined. There was an amazing view of downtown Dallas at night from our room.

On Sunday morning we explored the newly gentrified area across the street from the Belmont and were happy to find a great coffee shop, the “Houndstooth Coffee” in the Sylvan 30 development. Next door was a Taco Deli and so we were able to get a “quick bite to hold us over until lunch”.

We had brunch at “Boulevardier” restaurant in Oak Cliff and it was one of our most surprisingly great meals in a while. I had the “Legs and Eggs” – duck confit with sunny side up eggs served over stone cut grit cakes – yummy! Diana might have had an even better brunch – lox benedict over an amazingly light brioche. The hollandaise sauce and the brioche were the best I’ve tasted.

After lunch, we drove home to watch the Cowboys play the Detroit Lions. After a couple of anemic performances, I wasn’t excited about the game. However, it turned out to be a great game with a good performance by all aspects of the Cowboys team. They won by 1 point in the last few seconds – with the rookie kicker winning the game. Here’s the amazing pass to Elliott from Prescott that almost sealed the game.

An exceptional concert, tasty brunch, and Cowboys win – what a pleasant weekend!

I enjoyed the book “Summer Hours at the Robbers Library” this week. It was well reviewed and started out feeling very fluffy and inconsequential, but the characters and interesting plot twists sucked me in around the half way point. The book features varied characters that meet at a library, including a Wall St executive who looses his job in the 2008 financial crisis, a home schooled “alternative lifestyle” girl, and a divorcee trying to escape her prior life. They all come together to help solve each others’ problems in creative ways. This is what I would describe as a great vacation or beach read.

I read an interesting post about the album “Solid Air” by John Martyn this week. Martyn, who died in 2009, was described by the London Times as “an electrifying guitarist and singer whose music blurred the boundaries between folk, jazz, rock and blues”. I remember a friend in University being a huge fan of Martyn and, as much as I tried, I couldn’t get into the music. It’s amazing what 3o plus years can do to your musical taste – I’ve been really enjoying the record this week. Here’s “May You Never”:

And to finish out the post this week, here’s a picture of my oldest child resplendent in the kilt and accessories he purchased on his trip to Scotland last week. Apparently this was the outfit he planned to wear to see “The Phantom of the Opera” in San Francisco this weekend.

Week in Review – September 16, 2018

Back to New York again this week. The hotel that I usually stay at was transformed into “The Macallan Manor” for several nights as the club members there enjoyed a very fancy scotch tasting experience with some good bands playing.

It’s always very sobering to be in New York on September 11th, as we all remember watching the horror unfold on our television sets in 2001 , while the New Yorkers lived through it. My colleague took these pictures at the memorial – the only night of the year when lights outline the silhouette of the fallen twin towers.

Meanwhile, I was attending a Jethro Tull concert at the Beacon Theater on the upper west side. This was a sold out, 50th anniversary concert by a band that I enjoy very much but have never seen live. My pre-concert meal was at an excellent Mediterranean restaurant, the Hummus place, that is right behind the Beacon theater.

The mushroom hummus was amazing and the falafels were some of the best I’ve had. On exiting the restaurant, I was amused to see the Jethro Tull equipment truck – “Scotsman & Clan Transportaion”.

The concert was very enjoyable with a lot of video accompaniment from the 50 year history of the band and of world events.

It’s fairly amazing that a band with a flute as it’s main lead instrument and with a very classical bent has survived this long. Here’s a video of their Bach cover, “Bouree”.

The concert lasted well over two hours, with an intermission. The Beacon is such a gorgeous old theater with great acoustics – here are a couple of pictures from inside.

Predictably, the last song of the show was “Aqualung” which came with an entertaining video backing.

Hurricane Florence caused me to change my plans and travel down to rendezvous with McD in Florida a day early on Thursday. My flight to St. Petersburg arrived with no issues and a smooth ride overall. Diana’s hotel was within walking distance to downtown and we enjoyed exploring the area. Dinner was at the Copper Shaker which had excellent cocktails, service, and food.

Diana worked most of the day on Friday and so I was able to explore the breakfast joints, bookstores, coffee shops, and cigar bars of St. Petersburg reasonably thoroughly. I found it to be a very friendly, eclectic, walkable, and enjoyable city overall.

On Friday night we moved over to the Sandy Pearl resort in Clearwater Beach. The beaches there are made up of beautifully fine white sand. We enjoyed dinner at the very casual Frenchy’s Café, known for the grouper sandwich and “Crabby fries, and then enjoyed a lovely sunset.

Saturday started with lobster benedicts at Clear Sky café next to the hotel – very good. It was very hot and humid by the pool and so I didn’t last very long before retreating to air conditioning. I heard some great music coming from Clear Sky in the afternoon and so wandered over to listen. Diana joined me, and we met a fun couple from the nearby town of Dunedin. It made me smile because a work colleague recently moved back to Dunedin in New Zealand to run his family businesses. The couple had known each other from Kindergarten until the end of middle school and had recently reconnected – some good stories. They also recommended “Bon Appetit” in Dunedin for dinner.

We enjoyed dinner and the Dunedin sunset very much. Our waiter, Michael, had been in the restaurant business for 52 years, and certainly knew what he was doing. We shared a steak tartare starter, and then Diana enjoyed a nicely cooked lobster tail while I had the Dover sole (deboned table side by Michael). This was very much an old school restaurant.

In an effort to coax me out of air conditioning and down to the pool, Diana treated me to a poolside cabana on Sunday. This was a very special and luxurious way to relax and enjoy football and a book all day. I’m writing his post from the luxury of the cabana couch. Thanks Diana!

The Cowboys don’t play until later today, but the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (the local Florida team) just beat the Eagles, which always helps the Cowboys playoff chances.

I’ve been absolutely loving the book “Rules of Civility” by Amor Towles this week. This is about the exploits of a young lady in New York during the years surrounding the Great Depression and is exceptionally well written. I loved “A Gentleman in Moscow” which was Towles most recent novel and this, his debut novel, is even better in my opinion.

On the music front, I was reacquainted with this amazing Ray Charles song – a tribute to Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, and John and Bobby Kennedy.

Wow! What a song and what a performance.

Week in Review – September 9, 2018

Diana spent the week in Pacifica with her Mum while I worked from home all week and did my best to be self sufficient. The great news is that Clorinda is home from the hospital and back to normal after giving us quite a scare. Her neighbors, Andy and Jude, had a party on Saturday night to celebrate their sixtieth birthdays and you can see from these pictures that Clorinda was her old-self – camera always at the ready. She’s very fortunate to have such kind neighbors.

Diana captured this lovely panoramic sunset from the deck of Andy and Jude’s home.

I passed the time on a rainy Saturday by going to see the movie “Blaze” at the Alamo draft house and cinema in Denton. The movie is directed by Ethan Hawke and tells the story of the country folk musician Blaze Foley, a little known and very talented songwriter. The movie is very well done in a documentary style but with actors playing the roles of Blaze and his compadre Townes Van Zandt. Charlie Sexton, who we saw at the Kessler a few months ago, plays an excellent Van Zandt. Here’s Foley’s best known song:

Today has been spent weeding the garden and enjoying the start of the football season. The Cowboys haven’t played yet and I’m hoping for a positive start. I’m looking forward to McD finally returning home this evening.

A trend began this week of people substituting penguins for Trump in pictures with some hilarious results. Thanks to Brent for turning us on to these. Definitely a positive change.

I read a few short stories from Ry Cooder’s “Los Angeles Stories” this week. Regular readers of the blog will know that Cooder is one of my favourite musicians, with his “Paradise and Lunch” being a top 10 album for me. It always frustrates me when world class musicians are also very talented in another artistic field – just doesn’t seem fair.

The stories are in what I believe is called the “LA Noir” genre. Kind of like short versions of LA Confidential. It’s amazing how quickly Cooder can set a scene and introduce several very believable characters.

I came across this music from Abdullah Ibrahim this week and have been enjoying it very much. Ibrahim is from Cape Town and is heavily influenced by Duke Ellington and Thelonius Monk. Apparently there’s a jazz sub-genre known as “Cape jazz” that this represents well.

In other music news, I was introduced to Ronnie Earl through this track:

Earl is from Boston and originally graduated with a degree in special education. After seeing a performance by Muddy Waters, he became interested in playing blues guitar professionally. He has been the associate professor of guitar at Berklee college of music for several years now.

Week in Review – September 2, 2018

A similar routine again this week to the last couple – Diana working in St. Petersburg, Florida Wednesday through Friday and me working at home. There were a couple of differences – Diana got stuck in Tampa due to a thunder storm around the time she was due to take off on Friday afternoon, and I had to drive to the Fort Worth office every day for all day meetings.

On the bright side, Diana was able to connect with Merry Lee and Jeff, have dinner at their country club, and then spend the night at their lovely new home in Tampa. She put a lot of work into making sure that her client presentation on Friday morning was successful and so it was good that she was able to relax with friends. She learned earlier on Friday afternoon that her Mum had been taken to the hospital by paramedics and was very concerned about being so far away from her – Jeff and Merry Lee were a welcome distraction. We just learned that her Mum could be discharged from hospital this afternoon and Diana will be in San Francisco tomorrow afternoon to make sure she settles in well back at home.

Meanwhile, I took advantage of being in Fort Worth all week to meet up with a colleague for dinner at the Capital Grille downtown. We walked from dinner to a jazz club called the Scat Lounge. On the way we passed by Sundance Square and downtown’s most iconic public art, the Chisholm Trail Mural which serves as a reminder of Fort Worth’s rich cultural roots. The three-story Richard Haas trompe l’oeil mural spans the 1908 Jett Building’s southern facade and was completed in 1988 to commemorate the Fort Worth segment of The Chisholm Trail cattle drives of 1867-1875.

I had been reading about the Scat Lounge for the last couple of years and was looking forward to trying it out. As luck would have it, a band named “A Taste of New Orleans” was playing on Wednesday night, and they were a real treat. Here are a couple of their performances.

The Scat Lounge is an excellent venue – just the right size and very reminiscent of a New York basement jazz club.

We met Patty and Brent for dinner and a movie on Saturday night. The movie was quite unique and different than you might expect – a true one of a kind dedicated “To Patty”. It featured Chad and his exploits over a 24 hour period. The version we saw was just the initial “rough cut” but a truly hilarious and very clever production.

After the movie, we enjoyed dinner at The Grape on Greenville Avenue (McD’s favourite Dallas restaurant). I enjoyed the Moroccan Rabbit “Tagine”, Brent the Crispy Pork Collar, and the ladies both had the Steak Frites. After dinner margaritas at the Blue Goose across the street put the ladies right off to sleep. What a lovely evening with great friends that we’re going to miss very much.

I finished a couple of very different books this week. The first, “The Sportswriter” by Richard Ford, is part of a trilogy that tracks the life of Frank Bascombe, a New Jersey based writer for a sports magazine. The book tracks his experiences over a long Easter weekend when he is 38 years old, having recently lost a child and been divorced.

I’ve heard Ford described as the poor man’s John Updike and particularly this trilogy compared unfavorably to Updike’s “Rabbit” trilogy. I found the writing styles quite different and, with several decades between the settings, the situation and scenarios quite different as well. I’m not ready to run out and read the rest of the trilogy but do look forward to catching up to them sometime soon. “Independence Day” from the trilogy won the Pulitzer prize for fiction in 1996.

The second book, “My Year of Rest and Relaxation” by Ottessa Moshfegh, was completely different than anything I typically read, and it’s probably good to try new things from time to time. I had read a positive review in the New Yorker magazine and it was the book club pick at the Wild Detectives book store that I love in South Dallas.

The narrator is a young woman, living in New York in the year 2000, and determined to withdraw from life for a year in order to escape from or cope with her traumas. The book is incredibly dark but the writing is very good. I would not recommend this book to the faint of heart.

Here’s a song I heard for the first time this week from the Chris Duarte Group. It reminds me a lot of “Tin Pan Alley” by Stevie Ray Vaughan and has equally good sound and production.

My boss just sent this picture from the Toronto air show this weekend. What amazing precision and a great picture that he took.

Week in Review – August 26, 2018

This week was very much a repeat of last week. A quiet week of work for me at home while Diana traveled to St. Petersburg again for work Wednesday through Friday. She had a successful but tiring trip and week.

I met Diana’s stepson, John, at the airport on Friday afternoon and took him to Perry’s steakhouse for a drink and a happy hour snack. He had an 8 hour layover in Dallas between returning from a business trip to Nashville and starting a business trip to Santiago, Chile (which sounds very exciting). Then Diana met up with both of us at the airport for a little while when she landed and I followed her home.

Diana treated me to dinner at Gregory’s on Saturday night and Brent joined. What a delicious feast! I had the weekly special – scallops with crawfish etouffee, goat cheese, and crumbled hatch chile cornbread. Diana had read about it and knew I would love it. We started with a gorgeous duck confit – apparently slow cooked for 36 hours – that just fell off the bone. Diana and Brent both had scallops “sea bass style” – over the lobster risotto that typically comes with my go-to Gregory’s choice, the sea bass. It’s so nice to have such amazing food available in walking distance from our home.

I finished the Paul Simon biography, “The Life”, this week. The book is almost 400 pages long and I still felt that some important areas were too short. I would have liked to have learned more about the recording processes and musicians involved in some of his great albums. That being said, there were many details on the inspirations behind the songs, and the challenges of getting just the right set of musicians and sounds in the studio. The section on the making of the Graceland (one of the original world music records) album in 1986 was very interesting as it described Simon traveling to South Africa, assembling the musicians, and trying to get the right sound.

One of my favorite passages covered the 2003 Simon and Garfunkel reunion tour (that I saw in San Jose) that included special guests the Everly Brothers. I remember the Everly Brothers being invited on stage midway through the show as Paul Simon told of them being one of the original inspirations for their music, and particularly remember a fantastic rendition of “Bye Bye Love” where Simon and Garfunkel sang with the Everly Brothers.

Another memorable passage talks about Simon performing at the 2006 New Orleans jazzfest, the first after Hurricane Katrina. Quint Davis, the organizer of jazzfest, is quoted as saying: “Paul and the music meant so much to everyone that there were a hundred thousand hands in the air and a hundred thousand eyes crying. The highlight was when he brought out Allen Toussaint and Irma Thomas to join him on “Bridge Over Troubled Water”. It was the most emotional moment that we’ve ever had at the festival. He wasn’t a musician. He was a hero.”

Here’s a song that I “Shazamed” from a movie that was playing in the background while I was reading – “Holes” by Mercury Rev from their 1998 album “Deserters Songs”. I hadn’t heard the band before and some quick research told me that this was their big break through album and included appearances by Levon Helm and Garth Hudson of The Band – no wonder it caught my attention as those are two of my favourite musicians.

Week in Review – August 19, 2018

This was another quiet week at home for me, with Diana traveling to St. Petersburg, Florida on Thursday and Friday, where she finished out a very busy work week.

McD solving an outage late into the night

We met Brent for coffee and a crossword after our workouts on Saturday morning. He refused to attempt the crossword after a quick glance over it – “I don’t have a crossword brain – good for puns and witty remarks, but not crosswords”. The time while not solving the crossword was put to good use – reading an article in the “Scientific Mind” on the fact that men with high testosterone also happen to be better dancers, hence the reason women are attracted to good dancers – honestly!

Saturday night brought a classic Texas torrential downpour and thunderstorm. This one lasted much longer than normal and provided the garden with a good soaking.

I finished the novel “Wonder Boys” by Michael Chabon this week. Chabon is perhaps my favorite author and the film from this book is also one of my favorites, so I had quite high hopes for this read. It did not disappoint. I enjoyed it more than Telegraph Avenue, which was one of my most enjoyable reads last year. The characters and crazy antics built around a writers celebration at a Pittsburgh college are excellent. It’s difficult to set aside visions of the actors who played the main characters – Michael Douglas, Robert Downey Jr., Katie Holmes, Tobey Maguire, and Patricia Clarkson – but I tried hard and enjoyed the written characters even more than the visual versions. I’m looking forward to catching up on some more of Chabon’s catalog in the near future.

Aretha Franklin passed away this week. “Live at the Fillmore West” is one of my top 10 live albums and I listened to it a couple of times this week. Aretha’s concert piano technique coupled with the versatility, soulfulness, and range of her voice make this album very special. Here’s a sample – a duet with the unforgettable Ray Charles:

Wow! – I’ve seen some amazing shows at the Fillmore in San Francisco, but nothing like this. One of my all time favorite Aretha performances was at the Kennedy Center Honors when she performed for Carole King’s induction – “Feel Like a Natural Woman”. The reactions from Carole and President Obama say it all.

An advertisement for a Blue Note concert by Maceo Paker, saxophonist for James Brown in the 1960s and Parliament Funkadelic in the 1970s, included a link to this video featuring Trombone Shorty from New Orleans. This might be the best trombone solo I’ve come across:

And finally on the music front, a music video that a friend turned me on to this week. The band is called Meute. They hail from Hamburg and describe their music as “German techno marching band”. I like the horn arrangements and performance very much.

Week in Review – August 5, 2018

Diana made her first business trip for her new job on Monday and Tuesday. The destination was San Jose and the meeting seems to have gone well. She was entertained to find a picture of an old typewriter in her room – they show up everywhere since we saw the California Typewriter movie.

This picture from her flight home shows the layer of smoke from the massive California wildfires that continue to burn. The Mendocino fire is now the largest in recorded history with close to 300,000 acres burned.

I dropped Diana off for her flight and we stopped into my favorite Dallas area coffee shop, Redefined coffee in Grapevine, for coffee and a crossword on the way. When I arrived at my office I found a nice new mousepad on my desk – a gift from Mike Mead that merges the Scottish and American flags in a creative way.

On Thursday we flew to Pensacola, Florida to rendezvous with Denny, Anne, Jack, Mason, and Sabine for a long weekend in Navarre beach. Anne’s parents, Carolyn and Jack, have a condo there that they live in during the winter months. Navarre beach is located on a very thin sliver of an island that parallels the coast – it takes just a couple of minutes to walk from the leeward to the gulf side of the island.

We stopped at the Union Public House in Pensacola for a drink and a snack before making the drive. The crab fingers and scotch eggs were very good.

Our next stop was at Joe Patti for fresh seafood. This place had the largest and most impressive array that I’ve seen – amazing variety. Denny picked up some scallops and lump crab meat.

Diana captured this picture of the gorgeous sandy beaches as we drove along the island. Here are some of the lovely views from the condo after we arrived.

Denny and Anne cooked up an amazing feast for dinner including perfectly cooked fresh scallops with tzatziki sauce. That was followed by a pretty wild game of cards against humanity which Mason won, just edging Denny and me.

Diana and I did some work calls first thing in the morning and after a late, lazy breakfast, we headed over to the beach on Friday and stayed there until a thunder storm rolling in from offshore seemed ready to soak us. Then we headed to T.J.s in Navarre proper on the mainland for a late lunch.

Our Friday night entertainment was a walk down to Juana’s to listen to the live band. The music was classic rock which everyone (except maybe Denny) enjoyed. The people watching in the music section of the bar was some of the best I’ve seen in a while with all kinds of characters involved. It became clear why the floor of the bar was nice soft sand.

Saturday morning was a repeat of Friday with a trip over to the beach. The current and waves were much calmer and so we were able to spend some more time playing in the sea. Lunch was at Windjammer on the pier where Anne and Diana had found some impressive sand art on their earlier walk down the beach.

Sunday morning brunch was amazing crab benedicts assembled by Chef Denny, Anne with a small contribution from me. After brunch we enjoyed some quality time on the massive blow up island in the water out behind the condo. Diana tried out Anne’s paddleboard and did very well – no falling at all.

D paddle boarding – should she be that far out?

Then it was that awful time again – time to leave the Ogans and fly home to boring, land-locked McKinney. Thanks to Mr. Denny for driving us to the Pensacola airport. The candle that Anne gifted to Diana caused some brief interest from the Pensacola TSA staff.

My cigar cutter and ashtray set up caused me to be stopped for a bag check on the way out of Dallas to Pensacola and I was lucky to get a TSA agent who was also a cigar aficionado and let it pass. So we were able to get extra screening on both legs of the trip.

Jack had Anne send us home with a gift from him (one that didn’t alert TSA) – a piece of wine cork art that is now hanging in our bar area.

A huge thanks to Jack and Carolyn for the use of their condo for an excellent long weekend!

My reading this week has been from the new Paul Simon biography. I’m about half way through and around 1974 when “Still Crazy After All These Years” was released. This has been a very interesting read – I enjoy hearing about the inspiration for the songs and the special recording techniques and musicians used on the various albums. I was interested to learn that the Muscle Shoals “Swampers” were the key musicians on the “Rhymin’ Simon” album – one of my favorites. It’s amazing how many of the records that I love were recorded at Muscle Shoals with that great cadre of musicians.

Here’s a song from that album:

Denny turned me on to a great version of “As Long as I Can See the Light” by My Morning Jacket while we were in Navarre:

And to finish out the music section this week, here’s an excellent song by Little Richard with Jimi Hendrix on guitar and Billy Preston on organ that I heard about through the Immortal Jukebox blog (highly recommended):

Week in Review – July 15, 2018

We arrived in Glasgow via Houston and London Heathrow on Thursday afternoon in time to celebrate my Mum’s 80th birthday. Diana did a nice job of wrapping her gift, a necklace with birthstones for each of the grandchildren, in a fancy stack. We were amazed at the array of 80th birthday cards – no two the same. You just don’t get that kind of selection with us. The weather during our visit was perfect and a very nice change from the 100 degree temperatures that we left behind in Dallas.

On Friday we decided to take a trip up to Glasgow in the afternoon. We parked at Buchanan Galleries and enjoyed lunch in Princes Square. It was fun to observe the various buskers along Buchanan Street and to see all the people enjoying their lunch al fresco. As we were leaving I spotted a dinosaur exhibit in the shopping mall and was able to coax McD into hatching from a dino egg.

On Saturday we went for a walk along the front at Troon which came with a stop for ice cream at a kiosk by the beach. David brought Penelope’s Cousin (PC), his new Porsche Cayman GTS, to Merrick View for a visit in the afternoon and then we went for an exhilarating drive on the Fenwick road.

Saturday evening brought the 80th birthday celebration dinner at Lochgreen. This is the same place where we had my Dad’s birthday party and we reprised family pictures before going in for dinner.

We had a lovely meal and Lorna provided one of her typically creative birthday cakes.

We slept in late on Sunday and then David took us to Brig o’ Doon for coffee and a snack in the afternoon. President Trump was leaving from Prestwick airport and the traffic of protestors and observers made for a slower than normal trip. The Brig o’ Doon is situated in Alloway, home of Scotland’s most famous poet, Robert Burns. His poem, Tam o’ Shanter, finishes with his trusty horse, Meg, helping him escape witches giving chase after a night of too much imbibing. Meg makes it across the Brig o’ Doon only by shedding her tail to the witch. Here is the original verse and a translation.

There was a wedding going on and so we were asked to move out of the backdrop for the wedding pictures as we posed atop Brig o’ Doon.

That’s Heather’s new boyfriend, Michael, holding her hand as they ascend the bridge. He seems like a lovely young man in spite of being vegan. I got a picture of Diana under a line from another of Burns’ poems that I sang for her on St. Valentine’s day. My Mum commented that the gesture wasn’t complete without presentation of a red rose to accompany the song.

We enjoyed a lovely dinner of my Mum’s famous boeuf bourguignon and individual pavlovas on Sunday evening before Heather, David and Struan had to head back to Aberdeen for work on Monday.

I finished a couple of books this week. “Famous Father Girl” by Jamie Bernstein tells of her life growing up as the daughter of Leonard Bernstein. I enjoyed this very much – particularly her stories about her Dad preparing to conduct some of the famous symphonies around the world.

The other was “Still Alice” by Lisa Genova. I loved “Every Note Played” earlier this year and my Mum had left this one on the bedside table for me to read during the visit. I enjoyed this one very much as well – Genova does an amazing job of capturing what it must feel like to face the onset of early Alzheimer’s.